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Highway 43 sees more collisions in 2017, report says

The increase in traffic collisions for Highway 43 caught Whitecourt Town council's attention while examining an annual collision report during its regular meeting on Feb. 27.

Whitecourt Mayor Maryann Chichak questioned why Highway 43 saw the number of collisions increasing from 36 in 2016, to 51 in 2017 when photo radar had decreased by 23 per cent and traffic had decreased due to a slowed economy.

"I don't get it," Chichak said. "That was a 40 per cent increase."

Michael Harper, a civil engineering technologist, explained that they didn't have the data to explain this increase but guessed that the traffic only decreased within the Town itself.

Chichak added that this increase could be due to the service to Highway 43 during the winter, which is provided by the province.

Coun. Derek Schlosser agreed that this could be a factor, adding that the Highway 43 hasn't been properly cleared this season.

"This winter was terrible," Schlosser said. "Through our community, it was disgusting. It wasn't even acceptable."

While Coun. Bill McAree said he didn't have a problem with the highway, he did question why traffic lights don't flash yellow in downtown Whitecourt during the night hours when traffic levels are low.

"People are sitting at four o'clock in the morning and there isn't a guy within a hundred miles," he said. "It doesn't make a lick of sense to me."

The number of collisions decreased overall from 234 in 2016, to 209 in 2017. A majority of these collisions took place along Highway 43 and in private parking lots.

Chief administrative officer Peter Smyl said that the Town had met with parking lot owners to give them recommendations to improve their parking lots. He added that these recommendations are not required unless renovations are being done.

Council moved to accept the report as information and directed Town administration to forward the report to the Protective Services Committee. It also directed administration to engage Alberta Transportation in a discussion regarding the flashing lights and additional information related to collisions.